Synod of Sillein

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The Synod of Sillein ( Žilina in Slovak ) in 1610 was the first legislative synod of the Evangelical Church AB on the territory of the former Upper Hungary .

prehistory

In the Vienna peace treaty of 1606, the anti-Habsburg uprisings led by Stephan Bocskai in 1605 and 1606 were ended. The peace treaty was signed by Emperor Rudolph II on August 6, 1606 . The imperial family committed itself to constitutional and denominational equality of Protestants as well as to granting the free exercise of the Protestant religion (§ 1) within the borders of the Kingdom of Hungary . In addition, it was stipulated that the evangelicals were allowed to choose their own superintendents (§ 2).

In 1608 this peace treaty was declared law by the Hungarian parliament in Pressburg .

Since 1597 Elias Láni (often referred to as "Lány" or "Lany" in the literature) worked as a Lutheran pastor in Moschotz ; at the same time, as the confessor of the Palatine Georg Thurzo, who lived in Großbitsch , he was the driving force behind the convening of a constituent synod of the Evangelicals Church of the Augsburg Confession in Hungary.

Preparation of the Synod

Already on January 16, 1609 Elias Láni called for a general congress in Waagbistritz . The questions of the election of superintendents and the constitution of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession for the Kingdom of Hungary were discussed in advance. The results achieved here could be realized a year later at the Synod in Sillein.

On December 7, 1609, Georg Thurzo was elected Hungarian Palatine by the Hungarian Parliament in Pressburg . On March 13, 1610, he sent invitations to 10 counties and royal free cities to participate in a synod of the Evangelical Church. Thurzo acted as the highest-ranking Protestant dignitary, as the deputy of the absent king, who made use of a 'church regimental' competence with his letter of invitation. The synod was to take place in Sillein between March 28th and 30th, 1610. Georg Thurzo himself traveled to Sillein on March 27, 1610 with his wife and a huge retinue. There he was solemnly received. On the morning of the following day, the Synod was ceremonially opened.

course

At the beginning of the Synod the hymn Veni Sancte Spiritus was sung, followed by a prayer spoken by Elias Láni. The palatine gave the introductory speech with corresponding suggestions. The deliberations were based on the biblical claim of First Corinthians ( 1 Cor 14:40  EU ) that “everything is done properly and honorably” in the church.

The starting point of the Lutheran doctrine was the assumption of a precisely defined theological confessional basis in the form of the concord formula and the concord book , which were already recognized in the German Reich . Here the standpoints of Lutheran teaching were clearly declared, but the de facto issue was an expansion of those denomination texts that had already been accepted by the Hungarian kings. At this synod, the Book of Concords was declared a binding norm, with the help of which the purity of the Lutheran faith was to be proclaimed and preserved. It was also decided to introduce the Lutheran liturgy in all parishes.

An important point of the synod was also an administrative structure of the Evangelical Church AB (later 'Hungarian Evangelical Church') and a division into dioceses , each of which was headed by a superintendent. Since the south of the empire was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire , the division initially referred to the ten northern counties of the country, which were under the rule of the House of Habsburg .

Newly created dioceses

The evangelical parishes of the counties were divided into three dioceses and three superintendents were elected to head the same.

Diocese 'Großbitsch' for the counties:

Superintendent: Elias Láni

Diocese ' Bries ' for the counties:

  • Turz (19 municipalities)
  • Neograd (48 municipalities)
  • Sohl (28 municipalities)
  • Hont (52 municipalities)

Superintendent: Samuel Melick († 1620), pastor in Bries

Diocese of Neutra for the counties:

Superintendent: Isak Abrahamides (* 1575, † 1621), pastor in Altsohl and Bojnitz

population

The majority of the population of the above ten counties organized at the Sillein Synod were Slovaks. There were Hungarians on the Great Schüttinsel and in the upper regions of the Barscher, Honter and Neograde Committees, but the inhabitants of the royal free cities (e.g. Pressburg) and mining towns (e.g. Kremnitz , Schemnitz ) were Germans. From a social point of view, the peasant people consisted of Slovaks , to a lesser extent from Hungarians , the bourgeoisie were almost exclusively Germans, the nobles were (mostly German-speaking) Hungarians. All linguistic difficulties would have been easily eliminated if every clergyman had mastered all three languages ​​or understood the people in Latin. However, since one had to use the language of the people in the church services in accordance with the Protestant doctrine, the difficulty arose from the beginning of how to divide the German and Hungarian communities into the districts of the Slovak-speaking areas. The difficulty was that the ecclesiastical authority was suddenly unable to carry out the liturgical administration. The educated classes had no problems with the various languages. In addition to Latin and his mother tongue, the educated Slovak was generally also able to speak German, while the German and Hungarian only exceptionally mastered a third language apart from Latin and his mother tongue.

However, so that Germans and Hungarians living on the territory of a district would not suffer any disadvantage with regard to their mother tongue and that church administration would be made easier, 'superintendent representatives' were appointed in German and Hungarian parishes, who were then referred to as "inspectors" or "coadjutors".

Simon Heuchelin (* 1577, † 1621) was appointed "Coadjutor" for the German communities of the Royal Free City of Preßburg and the counties of Preßburg, Neutra and Bartsch .

Paul Lentzius († 1619) was appointed for the German community of the city of Schemnitz and the German communities in the mining towns.

Stephan Kürthy († 1612) was responsible for Sered , Neuhäusel and the Hungarian communities in the Preßburg, Neutra and Barsch counties.

With these precautions, the church leadership took into account the ethnic and linguistic conditions in the individual counties. In addition, the previously elected seniors were confirmed in their offices and functions.

Others

In the Synod a number of rules of the law (canons) were enacted, which were supposed to regulate the life of worship. A more precise binding text was worked out for the formula of the oath that elected superintendents had to speak at the inauguration.

On the last day of the synod, two of the three newly elected superintendents (Láni and Melick) - following the pattern of the Lutheran Church of Wittenberg - were introduced to their new office and solemnly installed. The synod ended on March 30, 1610 with a divine service and the hymn Te Deum laudamus .

The synod and its resolutions attracted public attention. The Catholic clergy in particular was outraged by the spread of the Protestant faith. A protest note of the zealous converts and later Graner Archbishop Ferenc Forgách (* 1560, † 1615) attracted attention. The Catholic Church endeavored to keep all of Hungary in the Catholic faith. An apology by the Sillein Synod from the pen of its most important theologians Elias Láni and Simon Heuchelin was directed against the accusations of the Catholic side .

The results of the synod were carefully recorded and sent to the individual evangelical communities in the counties. They appeared in print form in several editions.

literature

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ About twenty high-ranking magnates and imperial barons accepted the invitation . In addition, 28 senior citizens and pastors took part, representing 419 parishes.
  2. ↑ quoted from denominationalisation in East Central Europe , Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ( ISBN 3-515-07583-6 ), p. 356
  3. ↑ a b C. E. Schmidt ...: History of the Evangelical Church Community AB .. Vol. I, p. 108f (see literature)
  4. ↑ Isak Abrahamides was not present; his installation took place at a later date.
  5. ↑ Ferenc Forgách, was from 1607 to 1615 he Archbishop of Esztergom. On 10 December 1607 he was selected by Pope Paul V. to Cardinal appointed.